Over the past few years, the aged care sector has gone through an immense period of change, partly driven by legislative and funding changes, partly driven by the country’s shifting demographics.

Now, of course, the aged care sector is under immense public scrutiny, too.

Unfortunately, every industry has a small percentage of operators who do so in a less-than-ideal way – parallel this with the Royal Commission into the financial sector – and rightly so, those operating in that space need to be accountable for their actions.

Tough and challenging times are on the horizon. The new standards, which will be in place from July 2019, are adding a layer of complexity and fear for aged care leaders, who are understandably concerned about what might lie ahead.

The team at performHR, which has extensive experience working with clients in the aged care industry, has been in deep discussions about the changes that are approaching, working closely with both peak bodies as well as other professional service providers with unparalleled experience in the sector.

Aged Care sector reform – what we know

What we know is that the new standards are a revised version of standards that have existed for a number of years, and the major known shift at present is that they are now written in an ‘absolute’ sense – that is, it could be easy to interpret them as pass or fail, with no leeway given.

It also focuses on ‘all’, appearing as if just one person doesn’t demonstrate what the agency is assessing, the whole organisation can fail – but, as they are yet to be tested, this is an interpretation only.

This absolute nature will shine a light on all HR practices within the business, and places huge pressure and scrutiny on internal HR teams to be doing the right things – and doing them exceptionally well – on every level.

Aged care sector reform – what is set to unfold

What we will see over the coming months is a seismic shift in how the people and culture in aged care companies change and improve. It will require a switch to a truly integrative model of HR documents and systems, as well as a model that demonstrates how the culture and values of the organisation are contributing to the successful delivery of service.

But for now, aged care organisations need absolute clarity on their current state, absolute clarity on what’s expected, and absolute clarity on what they need to do to bridge that gap. After all, we know with absolute clarity that 1 July 2019 is the date that all aged care providers need to be fully compliant.

We are constantly monitoring the situation at present to interpret and understand the terms of reference for the Royal Commission, and we are working with our clients to lead them through this to ensure that, when 1 July 2019 comes around, their businesses are not only set up to be compliant, but their processes, systems, people and resources are optimised for long-term success.